Brave Woman Held Hostage Freed Herself From Knife-Wielding Man

Resurfaced footage shows the moment a brave woman who was being held hostage in a butchers managed to free herself from a knife-wielding man. 

The news clip was from 2015, but was shared on Reddit yesterday (29 April), racking up more than 27,000 upvotes from impressed users. 

The footage shows the woman stood behind the counter while a man holds her hostage, his arms around her, with his left hand holding a large knife to her neck. At one point, he steps backwards slightly, bringing the woman with him, prompting her to hold the blade with her own hand to try and hold it further from her neck. 

WARNING: CONTAINS DISTRESSING FOOTAGE

The two briefly disappear behind the counter as he bends down, again forcing her to come with him, before they stand up again. At this point, the man is no longer holding the handle of the knife, and the hostage decides to take her opportunity to try and get free, calmly grabbing the handle before pulling herself away. 

Police then rush in to take on the man, allowing the woman to rush to the door to safety before being checked over by paramedics. 

Record TV

According to Brazilian outlet Record TV, the incident happened at a butchers inside a supermarket on the east side of São Paulo, saying José Ivanildo Ferreira had held the knife at Denise Aparecida's neck for two hours.

Record TV said police explained how Ferreira had been a customer at the supermarket but felt ‘threatened’ suddenly. His wife couldn’t believe what she’d seen, and was quoted as saying: “He freaked out.” 

After the clip resurfaced online, many Reddit users were impressed by the woman’s stoic approach to the situation, noting how calm she’d managed to be – only breaking down when she had been freed. 

One person commented: “Intense illustration of the human mind - stone-cold calm until she was free and could break down.” 

Record TV

Someone else said: “Imagine processing all of that suppressed emotion at once, damn.” 

A third wrote: “Adrenaline doing what it does best, sharpening her mind, keeping her calm, and making her hyper aware of the life threatening situation she's in so that she can get to safety. Truly incredible to see, adrenaline is fascinating.” 

Another added: “She even reached up for the knife handle slowly, presumably not to startle him into realizing what she was doing. as soon as she had a solid grip, she moved quickly to get away. Clever girl.” 

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